


Feared and Loved

by StarPrince_Punk



Series: My Irondad and Spiderson Fics [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - No Powers, BAMF Tony Stark, Blood, Bullying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, Italian Mafia, Italian Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Mafia AU, Mafia Boss Tony Stark, Misgendering, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Protective Tony Stark, Team as Family, The Author Projects, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Trans Male Character, Trans Peter Parker, Violence, Whump, and they all love and support Peter, but like... a nice mafia, but like... he's a nice mafia boss, cuz this is my fictional AU and I can do what I want lol, the avengers are a mafia, vent fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:28:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24446593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarPrince_Punk/pseuds/StarPrince_Punk
Summary: “A toast to my new son, Peter Stark.”“Salute.”-------Years ago, Peter Parker was kicked out of his house by his parents after he told them that he was a transgender boy. After that, he was eventually taken in by one of New York City’s most notorious mafia syndicates, led by Tony Stark.The Stark Syndicate was like a family - the family that Peter had always wanted. A loving, supportive, close-knit family that would do anything for each other. They accepted Peter for who he was, and they would defend him from anyone that tried to hurt him. And Tony would do anything in his power to make sure his son was safe and happy.(Aka the author, an italian-american trans guy, vents and projects onto Peter Parker lmao)
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: My Irondad and Spiderson Fics [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1421887
Comments: 81
Kudos: 421





	1. A Stark Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Yes, it’s another AU. There’s kinda a story behind this one.
> 
> This is probably the most self indulgent thing I’ve ever written. I’m an Italian-American kid that was born and raised in Brooklyn NY - so naturally I love mafia movies and TV shows (like _the Godfather, A Bronx Tale, Suburra: Blood on Rome_ , etc). And, I am also a transgender guy. Whenever I had gender-identity-related problems back in high school, I used to fantasize that a make-believe mafia family that supported me would come and defend me from the people that bothered me lol. So this fic is literally just that lmao. Time to project onto Peter Parker.
> 
>  **!!!!WARNING: Mafia violence will be included in this fic, although I won’t describe it super detailed or anything.** If this fic isn’t your cup of tea, I completely understand. However, to those of you who do want to read this, I really hope you like it! And if you are a fellow trans brother, sister, or sibling, I hope this fic is as cathartic for you as it is for me lmao. Enjoy!
> 
> (Also thank you to my good friend Shardonay for beta reading this!! Love you girl <3)

Peter Parker had been working for the notorious mafia boss Tony Stark for around 6 months now.

It wasn’t as bad as it sounded. He didn’t have to do any of the _heavy_ work. He was more like… an intern. A mob boss’s intern. It wasn’t something he expected he’d ever be doing, but sometimes life was unexpected.

It all started when he was in middle school, when he came out to his parents as transgender. He told them that he was a boy and that he wanted to be called Peter. They didn’t approve. They told him he was confused and that it would be a phase, but Peter knew better.

One day he came home with his hair cut short. He’d gone to the barber without his parents’ permission. He’d paid with his own money that he’d saved up, so he thought it would be okay.

Apparently, it wasn’t. His parents flipped out. They said that he was ‘too far gone’, and that he ‘wasn’t their little girl anymore’. They acted like him getting a simple haircut was a defilement of their personal property - as if they _owned_ him. But Peter was his own person. He knew who he truly was. Peter told that he wasn’t ‘too far gone’ - he wasn’t _gone_ at all. He was finally who he was really meant to be. He was Peter.

His parents kicked him out of the house and said they never wanted to see him again.

He was then thrown into the foster care system, and like his parents, his foster families often didn’t want him when they found out he was trans. He stayed in home after home, getting moved all across New York City. He finally couldn’t take it. He hated feeling so _unloved_ and _unwanted_. No one wanted him at home, no one wanted him at school - he just shouldn’t be here at all.

So he ran away.

After that, it wasn’t long before he needed money, and that landed him on the doorstep of the Stark Syndicate's main headquarters. It was technically a small office building named _‘Stark Industries Research and Development Labs’_ but everyone knew that was just a front.

Peter knew it was risky to ask them for help. The Stark Syndicate was dangerous, led by Tony Stark himself. People called him the _Iron Man_ , because he ruled his territory with an iron fist. And he controlled _a lot_ of territory in Brooklyn, consisting of a good chunk of Bensonhurst, some of Dyker Heights, and a little bit of Gravesend.

What did his syndicate do throughout this territory? Mostly, they were loan sharks. They loaned money to people, and those people paid back that money in time, with interest. The syndicate also owned many off-the-books gambling dens, which was how they made most of their profits that they were then able to loan out. Tony Stark also used to sell illegal firearms, as his father did before him, but he saw the damage it caused to the neighborhoods he controlled, so he stopped.

The members of the Stark Syndicate were a close-knit bunch. They had to be. In their line of work, trust was more important than anything else. And they all trusted each other - they were a Family. They weren’t all related, and most of them didn’t even have the last name ‘Stark’, but they were as close as any other mafia Family. They always had each other's backs. People started calling their syndicate the Avengers, because if one of them got hurt, you could be damn well sure the rest of them would stop at nothing to avenge whoever hurt their dear Family member.

Peter knew all that when he asked them for help for the first time, so he was scared out of his mind. But when the Avengers took him in, they were so nice to him. The longer he stayed, the more they treated him like he was a part of The Family. Peter wasn’t used to being treated so kindly - so much so that he thought the Avengers were only pretending to like him. But in time, he learned that caring for their fellow Family members was not something the Avengers could _afford_ to fake, since they valued trust above all else.

Since he’d first started working for them, they’d all taught him so much. Natasha Romanoff and Loki Odinson taught him how to use a knife. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes taught him how to throw a proper punch. And they were good teachers, too. They were patient with him, and they praised him when he did well.

But the person who Peter admired the most was Tony Stark himself.

The people of New York thought many things about Tony Stark. On the crowded streets, it wasn’t uncommon to hear whispers and rumors of the things he had supposedly done. People called him a sociopath. They called him uncaring, even _evil_ , all because he was the boss of one of the biggest crime syndicates in New York City. But in Peter’s opinion, they couldn’t be farther from the truth. Tony cared a lot about many people. That’s why he loaned money to people struggling to pay rent, and to people who wanted to follow their dreams and start their own businesses. And when those people couldn’t pay him back on time, he was willing to give them extensions when he saw it fit. But most of all, Tony cared about the Avengers - his _Family_. He would do anything for them.

And sure, Tony showed no mercy to his enemies or to people that betrayed him. But that was because those were his _enemies_. He could be a fountain of kindness towards his friends, towards his Family. He trusted them. They were deserving of his kindness.

And, for some reason that Peter still didn’t fully understand, Tony thought Peter was deserving of that kindness, too.

Six months ago, it was a very cold February. Peter had been living on the street, almost freezing to death every night. When he first met with Tony Stark himself, the man instantly let him stay in one of his unused safe houses. He gave him money for food, and a job as his intern so he could keep getting paid. Peter was grateful to have someone willingly help him. He immediately started to look up to Tony.

And now, in warm August, Peter thought of the Avengers headquarters as home. He finally felt like he was truly a part of The Family.

And the best part was that everyone referred to him as _male_.

Peter didn’t even have to tell them. When Tony first saw Peter, he had called him ‘young man’. And through his nervousness of meeting _the_ Tony Stark, Peter’s brain couldn’t help but _sing_ at that gender affirming phrase.

Ever since then, everyone had referred to him as male. It was so much _better_ than the misgendering and verbal abuse that he’d dealt with all his life. The Avengers didn’t even _know_ Peter was trans. They had just automatically thought he was a boy when they first met him.

Of course, that meant Peter always had a little nagging fear in the back of his mind that they would find out he was trans - and not approve. Maybe they’d kick him out because of it, just like his own parents had. No, Peter knew too much about the Syndicate. The Avengers would probably have him killed.

That kind of secret ate Peter up inside, but he made it through each day. Most of the time, he was able to forget about it, since the Avengers were so nice to him.

At the moment, it was around the middle of the afternoon. Tony had called Peter up to his office, and Peter didn’t know why. He’d already gotten him his coffee an hour ago, and that was honestly the extent of his ‘intern’ duties. In the back of his head, he couldn’t help but worry that Tony had found out he was trans, but he tried to silence those thoughts.

He knocked on the large door to Tony’s office. “It’s me, Mr. Stark.”

“Come in, kid,” he heard on the other side of the door.

Peter entered the room. He saw Tony was sitting behind his ornate, expensive desk. Like usual, he wore a three-piece suit, his hands adorned with multiple large, shiny rings. There was a record player in the corner of the room quietly playing a Frank Sinatra album.

Tony met Peter’s eyes, and his expression immediately softened - the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Hey, _bambino_.”

Peter smiled at the nickname. It was his favorite nickname that Tony called him. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

“What do I always say about calling me ‘sir’?” Tony chuckled.

“Sorry, right,” Peter grinned sheepishly.

Tony stood up and walked over to the side of his desk, where there was a bottle of red wine and two glasses. Tony poured himself a glass, then poured a little bit into the other glass as well. “I bet you’re wondering why I called you here.”

“I-I am, sir. I mean, um, yeah, I am.”

Tony chuckled again. “Pepper and I have been talking,” he began to say. Pepper was not only Tony’s wife, but also his consigliere and most trusted advisor. “And we wanna ask you something.”

Peter gulped and pushed his nervous thoughts away.

Tony picked up the two glasses and made his way over to Peter. “I see a lot of myself in you. Did you know that?”

“I-I… No, I didn’t. Th-Thank you.”

“I’ve known you for a while now, and I’ve thought about this a lot, but I think me and Pepper have come to the right decision.”

Peter blinked, almost shaking with nervous anticipation.

“Peter, we’re thinking about adopting you.”

Peter’s eyes went wide. His mouth fell open. He was glad Tony hadn’t given him one of those wine glasses yet, because he would’ve surely dropped it. “Y-You… Do you really mean that?”

“Of course,” Tony smiled. For a man that would often wear such a cold expression, the smile he gave Peter and his other Family members was so _warm_ , like the sun itself. “I’ve wanted to adopt you for a while now. The only reason I was hesitant was because you would become the heir to my family business. And I don’t want that for you. You’re such a good person, Peter. You deserve to have a life that’s not like mine. You deserve to go to college, maybe become an engineer or something with that genius brain of yours. You deserve to live a life that’s not full of violence and crime.”

“Mr. Stark, I-”

Tony held up his palm, and Peter silenced himself. Tony continued, “But then I couldn’t stand it anymore. I hate the thought of you going to that empty safehouse every night. You’re 15 years old, Peter. You deserve to have a family.”

“It’s alright, really, Mr. Stark. My family is here, with you and the Avengers.”

“And I wanna make that official, kiddo.” Tony smiled. “I wanna adopt you. Pepper and I have already set up a room for you back home. And I’d decided that it doesn’t matter if according to the old-fashioned rules, you’d technically be my heir. What am I known for other than breaking rules, right?” he chuckled to himself. “I want you to be my son, but you don’t have to be my heir if you don’t want to. I’ll send you to college, and you can major in whatever you want. You get to _choose_ if you want to take over the Family business in the future. It’ll all be up to you.” Tony held out the glass with the small amount of wine in it. “What do you say? You wanna be a Stark?”

Peter was trembling. It sounded too good to be true. Finally, he would have a family that loved him. That was all he ever wanted, after all the unaccepting homes he’d been through. And he wouldn’t even have to be the next boss of the Avengers if he didn’t want to - which, to be honest, Peter might want to. But he could think about that later.

Right now, his brain was only thinking about one thing.

He didn’t take the wine glass from Tony’s hand. He shook his head. “Y-You wouldn’t want me.”

Tony quickly frowned. “What do you mean, _bambino_?”

“You wouldn’t want me as your son,” He said, his voice shaking. _No one else ever did_ , he thought to himself.

“What makes you think that?” Tony’s eyebrows furrowed. He put the wine glasses on the coffee table beside him. “I _do_ want you to be my son, Peter. You’re already like a son to me.”

Peter’s heart broke. That was the greatest thing Tony had ever told him - he was like a _son_ to him. A _son_. “T-Trust me, okay? You wouldn’t want me. N-Not if you knew everything about me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, kid?” Tony’s face grew even more concerned. “Have you been lying to me this whole time and you’re secretly Ivan Vanko’s son sent to spy on me?”

“N-No-”

“Then why could I possibly not want to adopt you?”

Peter felt tears in his eyes. He didn’t want Tony to know. He didn’t want Tony to treat him any differently than he had been this whole time. He didn’t want to ruin everything. But he couldn’t hide something like this from Tony anymore. He knew he couldn’t. He tried to force the words out, but they came out quiet and mumbled.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“Because I’m transgender!” Peter said, louder than he’d meant to. He blinked back his tears, but a couple escaped and rolled down his face. He didn’t dare look up at Tony. He kept his eyes glued to the ground. “I-I’m a t-transgender man.”

No response came. Peter’s composure broke as more anxiety entered his mind. He covered his face with his hands. “I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry-”

Peter suddenly felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. It moved to the back of his neck, then Tony pulled him into a hug. His hand ran through Peter’s short hair.

Peter’s breath hitched. His brain tried to process what was happening.

“Peter, _bambino_ , please don’t cry.”

But that just made Peter cry _more_. Didn’t Tony understand? He could never be the son he truly wanted-

“Peter, it’s fine that you’re trans. Really,” Tony said quietly. Peter, pressed against Tony in the hug, felt his voice reverberate in his chest. “I’ll be honest, this all comes as a surprise to me. I didn’t have a clue you were trans. But it really doesn't matter to me."

Peter couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “W-What?”

"You know, you're not alone. A lot of us here are under the same rainbow umbrella," Tony continued. "I'm pansexual. Steve and Bucky are both bisexual, and they’re together. They’re basically married. And I think Loki said something once about how he's probably genderfluid and that he’s fine with using any pronouns." Tony then held Peter at arm's length and looked right into his eyes. "And we all support each other, because we’re a Family. _You’re_ a part of The Family, too, Peter. If you say you’re a boy, then you’re a boy. You’re _my_ boy. You have been for some time.”

Peter was sobbing uncontrollably now, but now it was more from the _relief_ of finally telling that secret that had been eating him up inside. He couldn’t believe it - Tony _accepted_ him. He’d been in _seven_ different foster homes and _none_ of them had accepted Peter’s gender identity, but this _mafia boss_ , of all people, accepted him. “Y-You really mean that?”

“Of course I do, kiddo. I don’t lie to my Family. You should know that’s against our rules.”

Peter nodded. He pulled a bit away from Tony so he could wipe his eyes. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I was scared that-”

Tony held up his hand. “I understand. It’s okay. This kind of thing comes out in its own time.”

Peter couldn’t not stop crying for the _life_ of him. “I-I’m so sorry that I’m crying so much. I’m just… I-I’m just so _happy_. Thank you, Mr. Stark! Thank you!”

Tony smiled his warm smile again, his eyes crinkling. “Don’t mention it, son.”

 _Son_ . Peter had never been called ‘son’ by anyone else in his entire _life_ . That one syllable was all he ever wanted to hear, and now _Tony Stark_ was calling him that.

Peter flung his arms around Tony, sobbing too hard to speak.

He felt Tony laugh quietly, then wrap his arms around him again. “So what do you say? Do you want to officially be my son, Peter?”

Peter nodded against Tony’s chest. “Y-Yes! Yes, please.”

“Then Pepper and I will start getting all the papers finalized. The foster system doesn’t know that we have you, but we’re making a plan to get everything in order. Just leave that to us.”

“O-Okay, Mr. Stark,” Peter said, his tears finally subsiding a bit. He then realized something, “Does that mean I should call you ‘Dad’ now?”

“If you want to.”

“I want to,” Peter said quicker than he had meant to, “Dad,” he tacked on the end, and it felt so natural to say.

Tony smiled wider. He ran his fingers through Peter’s hair again.

Eventually, when Peter had calmed down some more, Tony pulled away to get the two wine glasses again. He handed the one with barely any wine in it to Peter, then held his own glass up. “A toast to my new son, Peter Stark.”

Peter lifted his glass, too. He was smiling so hard that it almost hurt.

“ _Salute_ ,” Tony said.

Peter echoed him, “ _Salute_.”

They drank their wine, then Tony hugged his son again.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is soooo self indulgent omg. I don’t know if this fic will have an overarching plot, or if it’ll be a collection of interconnected one shots. We’ll see. I already have a lot of the next chapter written, so expect that to be posted soon! I really hope you guys liked this fic!! If you did, I’d really appreciate it if you left kudos and comments! Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Also, some of you guys told me on [my tumblr](https://starprincepunk.tumblr.com) that you’d be interested in reading this fic even though you usually don’t really read mafia AUs. Thank you so much for giving this fic a try and I hope you liked it! [This chart here](https://www.fbi.gov/@@dvpdffiles/9/b/9beefe1551394ce7a199a1a6e8fd67e8/normal/dump_1.gif) can tell you a bit about how mafias operate, in case you wanna learn more. Again, thanks for reading!


	2. Re-Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Peter have something to announce to the rest of the Avengers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys liked the first chapter!! I'm very excited to keep working on this fic! Hope you enjoy this update!
> 
> !!!Chapter Warnings: Mild mentions of violence
> 
> (Also thanks again to my good friend and beta reader Shardonay. Love you <3)

That night was Peter’s first night sleeping in his new room in Tony’s high-rise, penthouse apartment. Happy - Tony’s driver and bodyguard - helped Peter pack up all his things in the safehouse he was staying in, then drove him to Tony’s home. After dinner, Peter went to bed, feeling better than he ever had in his life.

The next day, Tony called a Family meeting in the Stark Industries R&D Labs building - which was the main front that the Avengers operated out of. They all sat down around a wooden, oval-shaped table. Tony sat at the head of it, wearing a three-piece suit like usual. Peter sat on his right, wearing a white button-up shirt and a dark blue blazer. Pepper sat to Tony’s left, and next to her was Rhodey - who was Tony’s underboss and second in command. Around the rest of the table were Tony’s capos and his most trusted soldiers - Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barten, Bruce Banner, Thor Odinson, and Loki Odinson.

“I’ve gathered everyone here today because I have an important announcement to make,” Tony said. He rested his elbows on the table and laced his ring-covered fingers together. He looked over at Peter and smiled warmly at him. “Pepper and I are going to adopt Peter.”

His fellow Avengers got very excited.

“It’s about time!” Natasha seemed to be smiling the widest. She sat at the table wearing a suit, her chin-length red hair bouncing around her face. “That’s great, Peter! Now you have to call us all ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ like Clint’s kids do.”

“We should throw you a big party!” Steve added.

“Yeah, it could be like a birthday party,” Sam said. “A re-birthday.”

Steve snapped his fingers and pointed at him. “Exactly. What day is it?”

“August 10th,” Pepper answered.

“Then today’s the day of your rebirth, Peter,” Steve said to him. “We’ll throw a party every year.”

Peter was blushing under all the positive attention. He laughed, “Th-Thank you all so much. Wow.”

“A party sounds like a good idea,” Tony said, clapping his hand on Peter’s shoulder and looking him in the eyes. “Happy re-birthday, Peter. What d’you wanna do for your party?”

“Uh, I dunno,” Peter shrugged, still embarrassed from all the praise. “I would really just wanna spend time with you guys. Maybe… Maybe we can go out to dinner or something?”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. We’ll go to that place on 18th Avenue that you like,” Tony smiled. “I have some business to attend to today, but I’ll definitely be done by 6pm. We can go out for dinner then.”

“Okay, cool,” Peter’s cheeks hurt from grinning through the whole conversation. His brain could hardly process what was happening. _A re-birthday._ He liked that idea a lot. Today, he was starting his new life with his new Family that truly cared about him. He was being reborn as Peter Stark - and he knew this life would be much better than his old one.

Tony turned back to the table. “Everyone’s free to go. I need to talk with Peter anyway.”

The rest of the Avengers filed out of the room, each of them stopping by Peter’s seat and telling him congratulations again. Peter thanked them all.

When it was only Tony and Peter left in the room, Tony turned back to his son. “A party would be a great time to tell them about your identity - only if you want to, of course. I won’t force you to say anything you don’t want to, _bambino_.”

“No, I… I wanna tell them.” Peter was nervous to tell the other Avengers he was trans. He wanted to, but he was still nervous. “I think the party would be a great time, too.”

“ _Va bene_. You wanna take the day off until then?”

“No, I still wanna work!” Peter’s nervousness left him at the thought of helping out his Family. “What can I do?”

Tony laughed, shaking his head. “You’re the only kid on Earth who wants to work on his birthday. Okay, fine. You can help me in my office. But at around 3:00 I’m gonna have to leave to take care of some stuff. I should be done by 6:00. Then Happy will drive me back here, we’ll pick you up, and go out for dinner. _Hai capito_?”

“Yes. Um, _capito_ ,” Peter nodded.

Tony smiled at the Italian word. He ruffled Peter’s hair. “ _Va bene_. Now come help me get some files in order.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Tony left the syndicate headquarters at 3pm, just like he’d said. Just before 6pm, Happy drove him back in his black Audi to pick Peter up.

Peter hopped into the back seat and sat next to Tony. Happy and Pepper were sitting in the front.

“I reserved the private party room at the restaurant,” Tony said. “That way we won’t have other people there looking at us. Plus, it has the biggest table.”

“Cool,” Peter bounced in his seat.

“You nervous?”

“I mean, y-yeah. But I’m also excited!”

“That’s good,” Tony smiled at him. Then he leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs, resting his foot against his knee.

Peter noticed something. “Um… hey Dad?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“There’s, um… There’s blood on your shoe.”

Tony blinked and looked down, then sucked his teeth when he saw he did in fact have a small splatter of blood on his Santoni shoe. “ _Minga_ , you’re right. I love this pair, too.” He tried to rub the blood off, but it had dried fully already. “Eh, it might come out if I get them polished soon. That blood hasn’t been on there long.”

Peter gazed down at his own shoes, the nice pair of black Ferragamo oxfords that Tony had bought him a month ago. He absentmindedly wondered if he'd ever get blood on them. “What d’you do that got blood on you? Was it something that happened when you went out today?”

“Yeah,” Tony shrugged nonchalantly. “Do you remember that guy who tried to take out Rhodey two months ago? And he managed to sprain Rhodey’s wrist?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“We finally found him. Brought him to the storehouse on 74th street. I asked him who he was working for and he refused to tell me, so I got Rogers and Barnes to help me… _convince_ him. You know how it is, kid.”

Peter nodded, unphased by what Tony had said. He’d worked for him long enough. He knew what Tony meant. “Where are Steve and Bucky now?”

“Dealing with the remains,” Tony picked at the dried blood on his shoe again. “I’m afraid that’ll make them a little late to your re-birthday party, kiddo. Sorry about that.”

“Th-That’s okay.” As used to Tony’s business as Peter was, sometimes he didn’t understand how Tony managed to talk about it so casually. “So, did you find out who he was working for? Was it Vanko?”

“It was Killian.”

Peter’s eyebrows raised. “ _Aldrich_ Killian?”

“Who else would I be talking about, kid?”

“I thought you and him had a truce.”

“Well, apparently he wants to break it. I’m probably gonna have to meet with him soon because of all this.”

“Is that going to be safe?”

“No. But nothing I do is ever truly ‘safe’, kiddo,” Tony flashed a smile at Peter. “Don’t worry, I’ll have backup with me - I’ll bring at _least_ Rhodey and Nat.”

The car was silent for a moment, then Peter spoke up again. “Can I come with you?”

Tony blinked at him. “What?”

“Can I come with you when you meet with Aldrich Killian?”

Tony set his jaw. “Pete, I wouldn’t wanna put you in danger.”

“I would stay behind you and the others,” Peter tried to convince him. “You could get Happy to stand by and guard me, too.”

“I don’t mind guarding the kid, Tony,” Happy tossed over his shoulder.

“No. Peter, you being there at _all_ puts you at risk,” Tony said. His voice was very serious, yet still calm. “I told you before - I want you to be my son, but I don’t want you to live my dangerous life. You deserve better than that.”

“I know, I just,” Peter thought of how to put his feelings into words, “I wanna _help_ you guys. The Family helps each other, and now I’m a part of it for real. I wanna help. You guys do so much for me. I wanna do something in return.”

“You don’t owe us anything.”

“I know that! I don’t wanna do it because I think I owe you something. I wanna do it because I… I _want_ to, you know? Cuz we’re a Family!”

Tony didn’t respond. He looked like he was thinking of an answer.

Peter smiled innocently. “Pleeeease, Dad? _Per favore_?”

Tony chuckled, “Don’t think that asking in Italian will convince me more.”

“I promise I’ll stay safe!” Peter kept trying.

After thinking for a little while longer, he finally sighed and spoke again. “Okay, fine. You can come. But _only_ if you stay behind me the entire time. And if anything goes wrong, you _run_. You don’t wait for me or anyone else. You run and get to safety.”

“O-Okay.”

“You _sure_ you wanna come with me?”

“Yes! I’m sure.”

“Okay.” Tony looked forward towards the front of the car, and silence came over them again.

But Peter had another question. “Dad?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“You know how you just said that you don’t want me to live your dangerous life?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, what if when I get older, I _do_ decide that I want to follow in your footsteps and take over the family business? You gave me that choice, after all. What if I do it? Would you…” Peter’s eyes flicked nervously downwards, “Would you be disappointed?”

Tony’s face softened. He clapped a hand on Peter’s shoulder, and Peter savored the kind touch. “I could never be disappointed in you, kiddo. Never. I’ll be proud of you no matter what you do when you’re older, as long as it's something that you _really_ wanna do. I just want you to be happy.” 

Peter beamed. Peter was so used to unimpressed gazes of his birth parents and his foster parents. He always felt the overwhelming need to _please_ others, to impress people. He always felt like he had to prove himself, whether it be about his gender identity or about anything else. He always wanted approval. And here Tony was, giving it to him so easily. Sometimes he couldn’t get over just how _nice_ Tony was to him. He felt so lucky to be in a family as close and as caring as the Avengers. “Thanks, Dad.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Happy pulled up in front of the restaurant soon after that. They all left the car, entered through the fancy front doors of the building, and a hostess guided them to the party room. Most of the other Avengers were already there - excluding Steve and Bucky, as Tony had mentioned, but they arrived around 15 minutes later.

Once everyone was there, they ordered dinner. Just like in the meeting room that morning, Tony sat at the head of the table, with Pepper to his left side and Peter to his right. The table soon became alive with chatter and laughter as the Avengers ate. They involved Peter in their conversations - he really felt like he was a part of them. It felt so nice to finally have a family.

About halfway through the meal, Pepper’s cellphone rang. She looked to Tony, who gave her a nod. She then left the room to answer the call. The Avengers continued to talk and laugh.

When Pepper came back, Peter tuned out the Avengers’ conversation to listen to his mom and dad instead.

“Who was that, Pep?” Tony asked.

“One of Thor’s soldiers - Valkyrie, I think her name is,” Pepper sat back down. “Apparently, Hammer didn’t pay his dues today.”

Tony scoffed. “You think that smarmy idiot finally grew a spine?”

“I think he’s still an idiot. Just showing it in a different way.”

“Why won’t he pay now? We’ve had him under our thumb for like 5 years.”

“I don’t know, but you’re gonna have to deal with him.”

Tony took a sip of his drink. “I’ll deal with him tomorrow. It’s my son’s birthday today.”

Peter smiled to himself.

Once everyone finished their main course, the waiter came out with a birthday cake and the Avengers sang for him. Peter blushed under all the attention. The waiter served everyone a slice of cake, then left.

Tony looked to Peter. Peter nodded.

Tony smiled and stood up, clinking his fork on his glass. Everyone looked at him at the head of the table. “I think before we all eat our dessert, we should make a toast to Peter one more time.”

The Avengers cheered in agreement.

“But before that, my son has something to tell everyone.” Tony looked over to Peter at his side.

Peter suddenly felt way more nervous than he had before, with everyone quiet and staring at him.

“C’mon. Stand up, kid,” Tony smiled. “It’s okay.”

Peter hesitantly stood up. Tony put his arm around him. His hand rested just between Peter’s neck and his shoulder, which allowed Tony to pull his son closer to him. Peter looked up at him, and Tony was looking at him with those kind eyes that he only used to look at his Family. They calmed Peter down.

Peter faced the table. “I-I’m transgender. I’m a transgender man.”

The table was quiet. Even with Tony’s comforting hand beside his neck, even though he told Peter that everyone would accept him, Peter was still nervous. He stared down at his cake on the table, too afraid to see the expressions on everyone’s faces.

The first one to break the silence was Loki, who sat on the opposite end of the table next to his brother, Thor. He lifted his hands and began to slowly clap, which drew Peter’s tentative gaze towards him. Loki’s mouth was in its usual mischievous smirk. “Finally, another non-cis person in this Family,” he crooned. “Thank you, child. We welcome you.”

Peter sniffed, and realized then that he was probably gonna cry during this. “Th-Thanks, Loki.”

Natasha sprung up from her seat nearby and enveloped Peter in a hug. “That was very brave of you to tell us, Peter. Thank you for trusting us.”

Peter laughed a little and hugged her back. “Of course I trust you guys, Nat. We’re Family. Trust is more important than anything.”

“Hey, didn’t I tell you this morning? That’s _Aunty_ Nat to you,” She aggressively ruffled Peter’s hair, who giggled and tried to push her hand away.

“I wish to hug the young Starkson as well,” Thor announced and stood up, making his way over to Peter.

Before he knew it, Peter was receiving hugs left and right from just about every Avenger. And by this point, he was definitely crying. “Th-Thank you guys so much,” Peter said once he was able to. “I-I’m so honored to have you guys accept me into The Family, b-because…” he sniffed and wiped his eyes, “because I’ve never really h-had a family before. Not a good one, at least. And you guys… You guys are so _good_ to me. Thank you!”

“Oh, Peter, of course we’d accept you,” Natasha said, “You’re one of us. We’ll accept you no matter what.”

“And listen,” Bucky added, crouching down next to Peter, “if anyone ever gives you shit for being trans, tell us, okay?” His eyes flicked over towards Steve and smiled.

Steve smiled back. “That’s right. No one talks like that to the youngest member of the Avengers.”

“We’ll go after them,” Loki spoke again, “and you’ll never have to be bothered by them again.”

The meaning of Loki’s words needed no explanation. The rest of the Avengers nodded and agreed, sounding so determined. Those words hadn’t just been talk - the Avengers were never just talk. Those words were a promise.

And Peter knew it. He smiled through his tears. “Th-Thank you guys all so much.”

The Avengers then all sat back down and started to eat their cake. Tony put his arm around Peter again and squeezed his shoulder. “Proud of you, kid.”

Joy bubbled in Peter’s chest at the praise. He sniffed more tears back. “Thanks, Dad.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Not long after Tony, Pepper, and Peter returned home to their penthouse apartment, Peter was tired enough to go to sleep. Tony walked his son to his bedroom, and Peter immediately flopped on his bed. Tony chuckled, standing in the doorway. “D’you have a good day today, _bambino_?”

His son sat up on the edge of his bed and nodded. “Yeah, I did. I like saying that today’s my new birthday. My old parents barely did anything for my birthday, and none of my foster parents ever even tried, so the old date never really meant anything to me. Besides, birthdays during summer vacation are way cooler.”

“Every year on August 10th we’ll celebrate your birthday then, kiddo,” Tony walked over and ruffled his kid’s hair. “I’ll even put it on the new birth certificate we’re making you.”

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. “The what?”

“Oh, did Pepper and I not tell you? That’s how we’re adopting you. I hacked into CPS records and found your old information - you know how good I am with computers. We sent your information to our best forgers. They're making you a new birth certificate with your real name on it and with us registered as your parents.”

“It’ll say Peter Stark?”

“That’s your name, isn’t it?” Tony grinned.

Peter’s face lit up. “Wow! That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, you’ll get all new documents - birth certificate, passport, all of that. And then I’ll hack into some government records and put your information there. It’ll be like you’ve always been there.”

“You can do that?!”

Tony laughed. “I hacked into the Pentagon when I was in high school, kid. Of course I can.”

“Why don’t you just adopt me and change my name the legal way? Isn’t that easier than hacking into government records?”

“You think CPS would let me adopt you?” Tony laughed again. “Nuh-uh. Even if they don’t have any evidence of my real job, they probably still wouldn’t allow it. And if they find out I have you,” Tony sat beside Peter on his bed. “They might take you away from me, and I… I can’t let that happen.”

“I don’t want that to happen either,” Peter’s eyes grew anxious. “I-I don’t wanna leave here! You guys are my family! You’re the only people to ever accept me-”

“You’re not gonna have to leave, Peter. Don’t worry,” Tony put his arm around Peter, his hand resting between his son’s neck and shoulder again. He looked at Peter with warm eyes. “You’re a Stark now. I’ll keep you safe. We’ll _all_ keep you safe. Okay?”

Peter nodded. “O-Okay.”

“ _Bene_. C’mere, kiddo,” Tony pulled Peter into a hug.

Peter wrapped his arms tight around his father. “Love you, Dad.”

Tony’s expression softened. ‘I love you’ were words he would never get used to hearing. To hear Peter say that meant everything to him. He turned his head and kissed Peter’s cheek. “Love you too, _bambino_. Happy birthday.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked that! I've already written part of the next chapter, so I'll try to update soon? Thanks you so much for reading! I'd appreciate it if you left kudos and comments if you enjoyed this!


	3. Welcome to the Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter learns more about what Tony’s life is like as boss of the Stark Syndicate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO FINALLY UPDATED!!!!! Hello everyone I’m back! Sorry it took so long, a lot of stuff has been going on. But now I’m back and I’ve written a lot more of this fic!! Hope you enjoy!!
> 
> **!!!Chapter Warnings: Mild violence**
> 
> (Also thank you again to Shardonay, my beta reader!! Love you so much!)

“Pep, I’m gonna be late coming into headquarters today,” Tony called to Pepper from the front door of their penthouse, Peter at his side. “I’m taking Peter to the jeweler’s to find out his ring size. You need anything?”

“You said you’d deal with Hammer today,” Pepper responded as she packed her purse.

“Shit, right. That _stunad_. Do me a favor - call Nat and tell her to meet me there?”

“Will do. Have fun, you guys.”

“See you later, hun,” Tony walked out the door.

“See ya, Mom!” Peter waved to Pepper, then followed Tony.

Pepper smiled and waved back to him.

Tony and Peter walked through the hallway to the elevator. “Who’s Hammer?” Peter asked.

Tony smirked, placing a finger over his lips. “I’ll tell you once we’re in the car.”

“Oh, right. Sorry, I’m just so excited!”

“To get your ring?”

“Yeah! Of course!”

Peter was getting his signet ring today. All of the Avengers wore a signet ring on their pinky finger, emblazoned with the symbol of the Stark Syndicate. That way, everyone knew what Family they were a part of.

And now people would know that Peter was in that Family, too.

They took the elevator down to the lobby of their building, then got into the Audi waiting for them outside - Happy in the driver’s seat. “Where to, Boss?”

“Head on over to Mr. Costanzo’s, please.”

“You got it,” Happy said as he turned on the ignition and drove off.

Peter turned to Tony, “So who’s Hammer?”

“Justin Hammer,” Tony explained. “Owner of Hammer Industries, and a general pain in the ass. The guy borrowed 500 grand from us five years ago. Couldn’t pay it back in time, so we offered him a deal - either from then on, he’d pay us 20% of his company’s profits every month, or we’d kill him right there. He’s still alive today, so you can guess what choice he made.”

“So he pays you every month?”

“Yep, just like plenty of other people like him do. In our line of work, we call that a ‘business partner’. If they give us their payment, then everything’s fine and we leave them alone. If they don’t, then we pay them a visit.”

“Right, yeah,” Peter nodded. “Can I come with you?”

Tony chuckled. “First Killian, now this? You wanna follow me everywhere.”

“Please? I wanna see what happens to Hammer!”

Tony thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t _hurt_ , if you came with us to visit Hammer. I put up so much resistance yesterday about you visiting Killian cuz I don’t want you involved in anything _dangerous_ ,” Tony explained, then laughed, “Justin Hammer is _not_ dangerous. He’s an idiot, so you’ll be fine.”

Peter bounced in his seat. “Okay! Great!”

Happy pulled up in front of the jeweler’s soon after that. It was a small place, the inside filled with glass display cases of necklaces, rings, and all kinds of expensive-looking stuff. Peter couldn’t help but stare, mesmerized by all the sparkling diamonds. But Tony remained focused, walking straight up to the man at the counter.

“Ah, Signore Stark!” The jeweler said, a subtle Italian immigrant accent shaping his words. “What can I get you today?”

“Mr. Costanzo, I’d like to introduce you to my son, Peter,” Tony clapped his arm around Peter’s shoulders. Peter looked up and waved shyly.

“A pleasure to meet you, young man,” Mr. Costanzo dipped his head at Peter, and Peter smiled. _Young man._ “I did not know you had a son, sir.”

“Well, he’s relatively new to the family,” Tony shrugged, and kept talking before any more questions were asked. “I was wondering if you could give him one of my special rings you keep in the back?”

“Ah, yes, of course, sir,” Mr. Costanzo nodded, then turned back to Peter. “But first, let me see your hand, young Stark, so I can get you the correct size.”

After measuring Peter’s left pinky finger, the jeweler went into the back room to retrieve the ring. When he returned, he held out a small, silver ring in the palm of his hand, with a large, flat signet design on the top. The design was of a circle, with a triangle in the center of that circle, with some lines connecting each side of the triangle to the outer circle.

Peter took it and slipped it on. It fit perfectly - like it belonged there. He stared in awe at it the whole way back to the car.

“That symbol on the top of the ring is called the Arc,” Tony said, watching Peter in the car seat next to him as the boy admired his pinky. “It’s the symbol of our organization.”

“Why’s it called the Arc?” Peter asked.

“I dunno. My father named it that.” Tony leaned back in his seat. “Hap, next stop, Hammer Industries HQ.”

“You got it, boss,” Happy said and drove out of their parking spot.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Natasha was already in front of the Hammer Industries building when Happy pulled up in front of it. Tony and Peter stepped out of the car.

“Took you long enough,” Nat smirked. She wore a black suit and a stylish black fedora, casting a shadow over her eyes.

“Kid got his ring,” Tony explained away, flicking his hand over at Peter.

Peter ran over and proudly showed off his ring to Natasha. “Look, Aunty Nat! I got a real Stark ring!”

She smiled at him. “Looking good there, little boss. You coming with us?”

“Hell yeah, I am!”

“Alright! C’mon then,” Nat said, following Tony inside. Peter followed behind them.

The secretary behind the front desk in the Hammer Industries lobby was… _startled_ \- to say the least - to see _the_ Tony Stark walk inside. “H-Hello, sir,” the man said behind his desk. His voice was shaking just at the sight of who the people on the street referred to as _Iron Man_. “H-How can I h-help you?”

“Oh, I just have a little request,” Tony responded suavely with a smile - not the warm smile that he’d give Peter and the rest of his Family, but a cold smile. The smile of a predator hunting down his prey. “I’m here to see your boss, Justin Hammer. Can you direct me as to where he might be?”

The man behind the front desk gulped. “I-I-I’m sorry, sir,” he said, eyes darting around the room, not able to look directly at Tony. “b-but you h-have to make an appointment for that sort of thing. M-Mr. Hammer isn’t expecting t-to see anyone today-”

“Oh, after what he did? I’m sure he’s expecting me,” Tony kept smiling, flashing his teeth. “Call him up, why don’t you? Tell him I’m here.”

“Y-Yes, sir.” The secretary’s shaking hands dialed a few numbers into the phone on his desk, then pressed it to his ear as the line rang, waiting in apprehension. He glanced at Tony, then quickly looked away, clutching the phone tighter.

Tony glanced over at Peter, who was staring at him with admiration. Tony threw him a smile - the warm smile - then turned back to the secretary.

The line finally picked up. “M-Mr. Hammer! Um, sorry to bother you sir, but, uh, _someone_ is here to see you. … I-It’s, it’s Tony Stark, sir. … A-Alright.” The secretary hung up the phone and looked back to Tony. “Mr. Hammer says you can go straight upstairs. He’s in room 433.”

“Thank you very much,” Tony bowed his head a little, then strided over towards the elevators, Nat and Peter following him.

When they arrived on the right floor and walked over to room 433, Peter started to feel a bit nervous. Or maybe it was excitement. Or both.

The door to room 433 was open. Tony stood in the doorway, Peter and Nat looking in behind him. The room was nice - an office with floor-to-ceiling windows on the wall behind a desk, letting the blue daytime light inside. In front of that desk was a man - presumably Justin Hammer - with his back facing them, pouring some kind of whiskey from a decanter into some fancy glasses. He hadn’t noticed the Avengers’ arrival.

“Mr. Hammer,” Tony broke the silence, a sly smirk still on his face.

The man in the room jumped, almost spilling his glass, and looked behind him. His mouth formed a smile of his own - a fake one, a smarmy one. “Ah, yes. Hello, Anthony.”

Tony let out an annoyed laugh. “Hammer, how many times have I told you to _never_ call me that?”

“Right, right, or course,” Hammer said with a wave of his hand, smarmy grin still on his face. He held out a glass of whiskey. “Care for a drink?”

“Not while I’m here on business.”

“Business, you say? Well, then let’s discuss business,” Hammer leaned back on the edge of his desk. “What brings you to my little neck of the woods?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know why I’m here,” Tony said, his tone of voice hinting at the predatory look in his eyes. “Where’s my money, Hammer?”

Hammer laughed - a laugh that tried to sound confident but came out more nervous than anything. “ _Your_ money? I don’t owe you money anymore, Stark.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Tony said with heavy sarcasm. “I see. Tell me, why is that?”

“Haven’t you heard? I’m protected now. You don’t scare me anymore.” Despite saying that, Peter noticed the small shakiness of Hammer’s hands.

“Is that so?” Tony stepped farther into the room, his eyes still locked with Hammer’s. He gave off the same energy as a shark, slowly stalking his victim. “You’re protected, you say? In what way, if I may so humbly ask?”

“I cut a deal with someone,” Hammer said, looking away from the sheer force of Tony’s eye contact. “He says if you bother me, he’ll send some of his guys to take care of your guys. All I have to do is pay him, and he’s asking for less than you are. So, you can’t touch me.”

“I can’t touch you,” Tony scoffed that last sentence back to him like it was the punchline to a joke. “Right. And who, may I ask, is the person behind this little deal?”

Sweat dripped from Hammer’s brow. “He’s asked me not to reveal his name.”

Tony let out a chuckle. “Right, right. Of course he did.” He looked behind him, “Nat? Care to help me?”

“Gladly, boss,” Natasha laced her fingers together and stretched her arms out forward, cracking a couple of her knuckles. Peter watched, both nervousness and excitement still thrumming in his veins, as she stepped forward and passed by where Tony stood.

In one swift movement, she pinned Hammer’s arm behind his back and slammed his face down on his desk with a loud, painful sound. Hammer let out an undignified squeal as Natasha pushed his arm back further than it was meant to go. She leaned over next to his ear, “You tell me who’s behind this.”

Hammer said nothing, just let out some nervous breaths.

“ _Who’s_ behind this?!” Natasha demanded again, twisting Hammer’s arm farther.

After a rather sharp sounding whine, Hammer caved, “I-Ivan! Ivan Vanko!” He spit out the name between groans of pain. “Ivan Vanko!”

She immediately let him go once the information was obtained, straightening her back and walking away to Tony’s side. Hammer was left to stagger back to an upright standing position, stretching out his shoulder as he turned back around to Tony, who just stared down at him coldly.

Peter couldn’t help but stare in awe.

“You don’t last long, Hammer,” Tony teased. “Nat barely had you in her grasp for 5 seconds. But thank you for the information.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hammer said, his false-confident facade now broken. “Just leave me alone, or Vanko’s guys’ll come for you.”

Tony barked out a laugh. “Like Vanko’s guys aren’t already coming after me all the time. No, I don’t care what kind of deal Vanko scammed you into making. You still owe me the 20% you owe me every month. I expect the payment wired to me by the end of the day, or else I will come here tomorrow, and Nat won’t just strain your arm a bit. You understand me?”

Hammer sighed. “Yeah, I understand.”

Tony’s grinned. “Good doing business with you, Hammer.” And with that, he turned on the heel of his shiny shoe and walked out the door, Nat and Peter close behind.

Back in the elevator, all of the excitement Peter had been struggling to contain came bursting out of him. “That was so cool! That guy was such a snake, and you two totally schooled him! Oh my god, Aunty Nat, can you teach me how to do that thing you did?!”

Tony chuckled - friendly and warm, not cold like he did in Hammer’s office - and ruffled Peter’s hair. “You shouldn’t think what we did was so cool, kiddo. People will think I’m a bad influence on you.”

“You _have_ to tell me _all_ about the Family Business now!” Peter was basically shaking the elevator with his excitement. “I want you to teach me everything! I wanna be your heir!”

Something flickered in Tony’s eyes for a moment, something that caused his smile to falter for less than a second, too fast for Peter to notice. “You know plenty already, Pete. You’ve been my intern long enough.”

“But I don’t know enough to be your heir! Please teach me? Please? _Per favore?_ ”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older, if you _really_ decide that you want to take over as boss. For now, live out the rest of your teen years in peace and think about if that’s what you really wanna do.”

“It is! I know it is! A-And besides, how can I make an informed choice if I don’t know everything about the Family Business in the first place?”

Tony thought for a moment.

“He’s got you there, Tony,” Nat smirked at him.

Tony gave in. “Alright, kid. You win. I’ll tell you some basic stuff in the car. Tomorrow you can start helping me more closely in my office.”

“Yesssss! Thanks, Dad!”

They stepped out of the elevator, walked through the lobby, passed the scared secretary, and stepped outside, where Happy was still waiting for them. They hopped inside the car. Nat sat in the front next to Happy, while Tony and Peter sat together in the back like usual.

Tony closed the car door and looked at Peter. “So you wanna learn how to be boss?”

“Yes!” Peter said with way too much enthusiasm for Tony’s liking.

“Okay then,” Tony started. “The Stark Syndicate is structured like this - me, at the top, as the boss. Then close behind me is Rhodey. His position is called the underboss, and he’s my right hand man. Then you got Pepper - she’s consigliere. That means she’s like my lead advisor.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know all this!” Peter kicked his feet, bouncing in his seat. “Tell me stuff I don’t know about yet!”

“Easy there, _bambino_. We’re getting to it. As you know, next in the hierarchy are my capos - which are like captains. They’re each in charge of what are called soldiers.”

“And Steve, Thor, and Aunty Nat are your capos, right?”

“That’s right, kiddo. And they each have a whole bunch of soldiers, some of which are close members of our Avengers Family as well. Like Clint, who’s a soldier for Nat. Bucky and Sam are some of Steve’s soldiers. And Loki is Thor’s soldier.”

“What about Mr. Banner?”

“Bruce is kind of like a second advisor of mine you could say. While Pep is my lead advisor, Bruce is more of just an advisor for tech stuff, cuz as you know, I use a lot of special tech - speaking over which, we should get you a StarkPhone.”

“Wow, really? A StarkPhone just for me? That’ll be so cool! _All_ of this is so cool!”

Tony let out another laugh. “Most of my job isn’t what you saw today, you know. I do a lot of boring paperwork, too.”

“That’s okay! I can do paperwork if it means I also get to be treated like how you’re treated, Dad! That’s so worth it!”

Tony blinked. “What do you mean ‘how I’m treated’?”

“You know! Like how everyone just… _listens_ to you! And how everyone does what you say! They don’t question you at all, they just… _do_ it!”

Tony gave Peter a cautious look. “That’s fear, Peter. They do that cuz they’re scared of me, and scared of what the Avengers and I could do to them.”

“W-Well, what’s wrong with that?” Peter said. “My whole entire life would be so much _easier_ if people just looked at me the way they look at you! Instead, they look at me like…” Peter’s high-energy excitement finally died down a bit as his smile faltered, “…like I’m _me_.”

Tony just stared at Peter, who now stared down at his hands. “And how’s that? How do they look at you?”

“Oh, you know,” Peter said, then mumbled something.

“What was that?”

“Like…” Peter repeated, barely loud enough to hear, “like I’m not a real boy.”

Tony’s expression softened. “You _are_ a real boy. You’re my son, Peter.”

“I know, I know,” Peter said. “But tell that to everyone else I’ve met. Everyone actually _respects_ you! I… I just wanna be respected, too.”

“They respect me because they _fear_ me, Peter. That’s not what you want.”

Peter didn’t respond right away. He thought to himself, mulling Tony’s words over in his mind. “I dunno. I’d rather people be scared of me and treat me with actual respect, than be treated like how I was at school. Or how I was treated by all my foster parents. Or by my biological parents.”

Tony sighed, because he understood. When his father, Howard Stark, was the boss of the Stark Syndicate, he… wasn’t very nice to Tony, to put it lightly. Tony was scared of his own father. When Tony was a teenager, he couldn’t wait until he grew up and people were scared of _him_ instead.

But Tony wasn’t his father.

“What about me, kiddo?” Tony said, his usual warmth in his voice. “I respect you, don’t I? And don’t the rest of the Avengers?”

“I mean, yeah,” Peter shrugged. 

“And you know why?”

Peter shrugged again.

“Cuz we love you, kiddo.” Tony put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “We love and support you.”

Peter beamed at Tony, but then looked down at his feet. “B-But… you guys are the only ones who ever have.”

That broke Tony’s heart. How could so many people have been so cruel to his son before he even got to meet him? “You will meet other people who love you too, Peter. I’m sure of it. And they’ll respect you without fearing you. Just like the Avengers and I do.”

Peter was quiet again. “Well, maybe _some_ people. But what about the others? What do I do about the people who don’t respect me?”

“Well,” Tony smiled, “then you show them that new ring of yours, and you tell them who your father is.”

Peter smiled back. He let out a laugh. “Right. Okay, Dad.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can tell from this chapter that A Bronx Tale is one of my favorite movies of all time lmao. Also one of the best parts of Iron Man 2 is when Natasha interrogates Hammer about Vanko so I just took that and directly inserted it into this chapter lol.
> 
> Thank you all so much for kudos and comments!! I highly appreciate them! I will actually try to update soon this time lol. Thanks for reading!


	4. All Kinds of Bullies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter goes back to school for the first time as a Stark. Then he joins his dad as he takes care of some Stark Syndicate business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot longer than the others! I hope that makes up for me not updating this fic for a whole month between chapters 2 and 3 lol. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> **!!!Chapter Warnings: Bullying, misgendering, transphobic comments, mentions of mafia violence, guns.**
> 
> (Also thank you again to Shardonay, my beta reader!! Love you so much!)

A few days passed, and each day Tony taught Peter more about his Syndicate, just as Peter had asked him to. August soon turned into September, which meant Peter would be going back to school soon. Before he could, though, there was stuff Tony had to ask him first.

“Do you wanna start hormone therapy before you go back to school?” Tony asked him one day in the living room of their penthouse apartment. “I can pay for all of that stuff, you know. If it’s something you want.”

Peter looked up from the new Nintendo Switch his dad had just bought him a few days previously. “I don’t think it’s legal in NYC for me to start hormone therapy until I’m 18,” Peter answered, then shrugged. “I could be wrong about that, though.”

Tony chuckled. “Doesn’t matter. Since when has legality ever stopped me from doing anything? I could find a way to get you on testosterone, if you want.”

Peter thought about it. “I dunno. I don’t think I’m ready yet, honestly. I know many trans people would jump at the chance to get hormone therapy this early, but right now, I don’t think I’m ready. A  _ lot _ of changes are happening in my life right now - and even though they’re good, I’m still kinda overwhelmed by it all. I think starting T right now and going through all those changes too would overwhelm me too much. Maybe next year though?”

“That’s perfectly okay,” Tony responded to him. “You get to take this at your own pace. You’ll be my son no matter what you choose.”

Peter couldn’t  _ believe _ how supportive Tony was. “Thank you so much, Dad.”

“I also have another question for you.”

“Yeah?”

“What high school did you go to before you ran away?” 

“Um, some place in Queens. I… I don’t think they’d let me back in, though.”

“Why?”

Peter rubbed his arm, a bit nervous. “I mean, I haven’t gone to school since February. After I ran away and started working for you, I stopped going. They probably expelled me or something.”

Tony hummed in agreement and nodded. “True, true. I suppose so. Well, it wouldn’t matter anyway. They’d have you in their records as your deadname, and on all of our records we have you as Peter Stark.”

Peter smiled to himself. His name was  _ officially _ changed now. He was so happy. “I never even liked that school anyway. I didn’t have any friends.”

“I bet that school didn’t challenge you enough. You’re such a smart kid,” Tony said. “Maybe we can get you enrolled at some really good S.T.E.M. school, like uh… Midtown Tech or something.”

“I’d  _ love _ to go to Midtown!”

Tony smiled at his son’s excitement. “Then let’s try to get you in there. I’ll hack into Midtown’s records and put you in there like you’d enrolled normally.”

Peter tilted his head to the side. “Well, wait. That’s not fair, though. I didn’t  _ actually _ get in. I’m gonna feel like a fraud going there if I didn’t actually get in.”

“You really care that much?”

“…Yeah.” 

Tony chuckled. “Okay. How about this - I’ll hack your old school’s records and get your grades - I’m sure they’re amazing. I’ll slap your real name on them and visit Midtown’s principal. It’s a little short notice, but I could probably persuade him to let you in anyway if he thinks your grades make the cut. I’m not as powerful in that area of the city, but I should be able to have  _ some _ influence.”

Peter beamed at Tony. “Okay. Thanks, Dad.”

“Remember what I said about trying to practice your Italian more in the house?”

“Oh, right,” Peter smiled sheepishly. “ _ Grazie. Grazie mille. _ ”

“ _ Prego, bambino _ ,” Tony ruffled his hair.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

On September 8th, Peter attended his first day of school at Midtown Tech. He wore a simple, gray, button-up shirt and black chino pants, with some black derby shoes that Tony had recently bought him. Back at his other schools, before Peter had joined The Family, he used to wear graphic tees because they were cheap to buy at Target. But now, Peter liked to wear clothes that were a bit fancier. Besides just looking good, button-up shirts and fancy mens shoes also did a lot to alleviate his gender dysphoria. Plus, he liked dressing in the style of his Family.

At each class Peter went to that day, the teacher would call for attendance. And every time, Peter got to raise his hand at the name ‘Stark, Peter’. He couldn’t help but smile every time.

But as cool as that was, he still didn’t feel confident being around kids his age again. He was scared to talk to them. He rarely had any good friends before, so he didn’t know how he was supposed to go about making friends.

Then in his physics class, a boy sat next to him that looked  _ really _ familiar. Peter realized he knew this kid from middle school. Oh no - what if he recognized Peter and made fun of him now that he was trans?

“Hey!” The boy greeted him cheerfully. “My name’s Ned! What’s yours?”

“M-My name’s Peter,” Peter said back, forcing himself to smile.  _ Play it cool _ .

“I don’t remember seeing you around here last year,” Ned responded.

“Yeah, I uh, I just transferred here.”

“Cool, cool.” Ned looked at Peter a little closer. “Sorry, even though I don’t remember seeing you here last year, you still look really familiar to me.”

Peter tried not to panic. “Y-Yeah? Really? Funny. I-I wouldn’t know why.”

Ned squinted, thinking to himself, then his eyes shot open in realization. “Wait a sec! I know you from middle school! We used to hang out all the time and talk about Star Wars!”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Peter looked away.

“You used to have long hair though, didn’t you? And then you cut it, and then…  _ oh _ , wait,” Ned trailed off as he understood what was going on.

It took all of Peter’s strength not to run out of the school building.

But to his surprise, Ned smiled, “So, your name’s Peter now, huh?”

Peter blinked. “Um, y-yeah.”

“That’s cool! My name’s still Ned, by the way.”

Peter couldn’t help but let out a little laugh at that. “O-Okay. You, um, you still wanna be my friend?”

“Do you still like Star Wars, Peter?”

Peter’s eyes lit up. “Yeah!”

“Then of course I’ll still be your friend, dude!” Ned laughed, and Peter was overjoyed.

After that, the day seemed to be going well. Everyone was addressing him as male. He even got to change in the boy’s locker room for gym, and the other boys thought his tank top binder was just a normal tank top undershirt. At lunchtime, Peter sat with Ned and caught up with him - mostly talking about the new Star Wars movies.

But then, everything went to hell.

“Holy shit! Is that  _ Penny Parker _ ?!”

Peter’s blood ran cold. All the color drained from his face.

He hadn’t been called that name in  _ seven months _ . He’d almost forgotten people even used to call him that.

He looked up from his lunch. He faced the direction of the voice and  _ froze _ . Pointing straight at him was  _ Flash freaking Thompson _ , Peter’s bully from middle school. Of  _ course _ Flash had to attend this school, too.

“W-Who?” Peter squeaked out. God, he  _ hated _ how high-pitched his voice sounded when he got nervous.

“Get outta here, Flash,” Ned glared at him.

“Nuh-uh, no way. I’d recognised your face  _ anywhere _ .” Flash made his way over to Peter and Ned’s table. He turned around and said to his friends behind him, “This is Penny Parker. I knew this loser in middle school.”

“That’s not who I am!” Peter defended himself. He tried to stay cool and confident, like he’d seen Tony do in the face of adversity many times, but he couldn’t keep his composure. “My name is Peter!”

Flash burst out laughing. “ _ Peter _ , huh? That makes sense. You know guys,” Flash turned to his friends, “Back in 7th grade, we used to call this kid  _ Penis Parker _ , cuz one time this little silicone penis fell out of his pant leg onto the floor.”

His friends exploded with laughter, and Peter cringed hard at the memory. He remembered that day. He had secretly bought a packer online and wore it to school, but he didn’t have the right underwear for it, so it fell out of his pants. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of his  _ life _ .

“How’ve been, Penis Parker?” Flash continued to mock him. “I would say I missed you, but I really didn’t. Why’d you leave? I bet your parents realized you were a freak and kicked you out!”

“Shut the fuck  _ up _ !” Peter stood up from his seat and glared at Flash. Again, he tried to stay level-headed like Tony would’ve, but his embarrassment was turning into pure rage. “My name is  _ Peter! _ Peter  _ Stark! _ Do you hear me?!”

“Oh, you went and changed your last name, too?” Flash teased.

“My name is Peter Stark, and I am the son of  _ Tony Stark _ !” Peter sneered at him, trying his best to prevent his voice from shaking. He was honestly close to tears.

Flash blinked at him in shock. “What did you just say?”

“Wait, what?” Ned looked up at Peter. “Really? Tony Stark? Like,  _ Iron Man _ ?”

“Yeah,” Peter said defiantly. He held up his hand and showed off the signet ring on his pinky, the symbol of the Arc shining. He noticed that a small crowd of kids had gathered around them now, watching and listening. “He… He took me in.”

Flash starting giggling uncontrollably. “Oh, you have  _ got _ to be kidding me?  _ Really _ , Penis? You expect me to believe that? Where’d you buy that ring? Etsy?”

“I-It’s true!” Peter glared at him again. “You can check my name on the attendance! It says Peter Stark!”

“ _ Plenty _ of people have the last name Stark! I bet you  _ really _ got taken in by some nobody, you liar!”

“Shut  _ up _ ! Shut the fuck up!”

“Peter,” Ned grabbed Peter’s arm. “Let’s go.”

Peter thought for a moment, then decided Ned was right. Even though he wanted to punch Flash right now, it would be better if they just left.

Flash shouted after him that he was a ‘coward’ as they walked away. Peter was barely able to ignore him.

The rest of the school day wasn’t as bad as that, but Peter couldn’t help but be scared that Flash would tell everyone that he was trans.

Why couldn’t people just respect him like how people respected his father?

Peter couldn’t wait to graduate high school so he could finally work in the Stark Syndicate for real.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Tony was a bit late picking Peter up from school.

Happy drove Tony to Midtown. When they arrived, Peter was sitting on the front steps of the school, alone. When he spotted his dad’s black Audi, he ran towards it and hopped into the back seat next to him. Happy and Pepper were sitting in the front.

“Sorry I’m late,  _ bambino _ ,” Tony said.

“It’s okay,” Peter said with a reassuring smile. “I got your text. I wasn’t worried.”

“Good, good. D’you have a good first day of school?”

Peter hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “Y-Yeah! Yeah, it was great! I made a friend already.”

Tony, who was a master of seeing through lies - that sort of skill was required in his line of work - could tell in an instant that Peter was hiding something, but he decided not to push it. Peter seemed a little happy, at least. “Really? That’s great!”

“Yeah, his name’s Ned. He’s as obsessed with Star Wars as I am.”

Tony chuckled and reached out to ruffle Peter’s hair. “That’s impossible. No one is as crazy about Star Wars as you.”

Peter laughed and happily accepted Tony’s hand in his hair. He needed that comfort after what had happened that day.

He didn’t want to tell Tony about Flash. Tony was so strong and powerful, unaffected by any insults thrown towards him. He dealt with people who were way more threatening than Flash, and he did it so easily. Peter was Tony’s son now. He could be the heir to his syndicate. Peter had to be strong like Tony and brush Flash off. He couldn’t be bothered by such a little nuisance, even if Flash had really hurt his feelings. Peter could handle it. He could be like Tony.

“D’you get any homework?” Tony asked him.

Peter laughed again. “You don’t get homework on the first day of school, Dad. Not any  _ real _ homework anyway. I just have to get you to sign some papers and stuff.”

“Good. Then you won’t have to do anything before we go meet with Killian today.”

Peter’s eyes went wide. “We’re going  _ today _ ?”

“Yep. Just finalized the details with him yesterday through a courier. Thought I’d surprise you.”

“And I really get to go with you?! Like, actually?!”

“Yeah, kid. Don’t push your luck. I’m already uneasy about this decision. Don’t make me regret it.”

“I won’t! I’ll stay behind you, just like you said! I'll stay safe, I promise!”

“Good,  _ bambino _ . I trust you.”

Peter’s eyes shone with excitement. Whatever had been upsetting him about school seemed to completely vanish from his mind. “Tell me more about Killian! What does he do?”

“Aldritch Killian,” Tony began to explain, “is one of my enemy mob bosses. His territory is North of ours - in Borough Park, while Vanko’s is East of ours - taking up most of Sheepshead Bay. Killian’s just  _ oobatz _ no matter how you slice it. He built his empire by selling this crazy drug called Extremis. People who’ve taken it say it feels like your nerves are on fire. Some people are into that, I guess, cuz that drug-selling business made Killian into a powerful man. But those drugs are dangerous. I don’t want them in my territory. Anytime that Extremis shit would make its way into my neighborhood, those dealers wouldn’t make it back to report to Killian. So we formed a truce - he’d stop trying to sell within my borders, and I’d stop taking out his soldiers for trying to sell within my borders. Simple as that.”

Peter nodded, listening intently. “I see.”

“So when Killian’s men tried to kill Rhodey, my  _ underboss _ , he broke that truce. He clearly wants to expand his territory into our neighborhood. He’s wanted to for years. That way he can sell more of his dumb drugs and get even more money.”

“And we can’t let that happen,” Peter said, eyes wide, taking in all this information.

“That’s right. So I’m meeting with him today to see if he actually wants to mess with me or if he’ll back off.”

“And he won’t try to kill you at this meeting?”

Tony shrugged. “We agreed to not bring any weapons, but as you can see, he has a track record of not keeping his promises.”

Peter gulped. “I-I see.”

“You’re absolutely  _ sure _ that you wanna come, kiddo?”

“Yes! I do! I wanna be there. B-But,” he shrunk back a bit, “we’ll be safe, right?”

Tony put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “We’ll be as safe as we can be. I’m bringing a whole bunch of our Family to protect us.”

Peter nodded. “O-Okay.”

Tony knew this meeting would be dangerous. That’s why he hadn’t wanted Peter to come with him at first, but now that was part of the reason why Tony  _ wanted _ him to come with him now. Tony was secretly hoping that Peter would see just how dangerous being in Tony’s line of work was, and then maybe he wouldn’t be so giddy and excited to take over as boss. Peter had to understand that it wasn’t like being in a cool movie, and was actually a very hard life.

Tony didn’t lie to Peter before - he wouldn’t stop his son from becoming the next boss of the Stark Syndicate if that’s what he wanted to do. But Tony would much rather have his son live a life where he wasn’t put in danger everyday. He wanted his son to be safe and happy, so of course he’d rather have Peter become an engineer or something like that - something that Tony never got to be because his father had never let him be anything else other than a mob boss. Tony just wanted Peter to have a chance at a better life.

But Peter seemed really adamant on following in Tony’s footsteps.

Maybe meeting Killian would change his mind.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

The meeting with Killian had been arranged as such: At 11pm sharp, Tony, Killian, and their respective associates would meet at the empty lot on the corner of 52nd st and 18th ave, the one that wasn’t under construction yet. It was neutral ground between their territories. There they would discuss the terms of their truce - to see if they even still had a truce anymore, after what Killian’s soldiers did to hurt Rhodey. The rules were clear - no weapons of any kind were to be brought, and the members of both syndicates would stand far out of punching range from one another.

Tony brought more people than he usually would have on a meeting like this, to ensure Peter would be absolutely safe. Not only did Tony bring Happy as Peter’s personal bodyguard, but he also brought Rhodey, Natasha, Steve, and Bucky. Usually he’d just bring Rhodey and Nat to this sort of thing, but Steve and Bucky would be good muscle to have around in case things went sideways. People on the street didn’t call those two ‘super-soldiers’ for no reason.

When the Avengers arrived at the empty lot, Killian was already there with a few of his own syndicate members. The bastard smiled smugly, his slicked-back blonde hair looking gross and too-greasy under the light of the streetlamps. “Fashionably late as always, Stark.”

“It’s 11:02, cut me some slack,” Tony shot back, stopping a few feet in front of Killian (out of punching range). Peter, as promised, kept close behind him. The rest of the Avengers that Tony had brought lined up shoulder-to-shoulder beside them.

“I have a lot to discuss with you,” Tony continued.

“I see. Well, discuss away,” Killian said, opening his arms in a false welcome.

Tony glanced over at Rhodey, who stood to his right. “You remember James Rhodes, right?”

“I think we’ve met once or twice, yes.”

“Rhodey, you wanna remind me of what happened to you?”

Rhodey crossed his arms, staring Killian right in the eyes. “One of his dumbass henchmen tried to kill me. Managed to bang up my wrist a bit.”

“Oh right, yes, that was it,” Tony looked back to Killian now. “What do you have to say about that?”

“Well, you killed my ‘henchman’ - as you say - who did the deed,” Killian shrugged. “I think that makes us more than even.”

“Technically, Barnes killed him,” Tony glanced over at Bucky for a second. “Bashed his skull in just with his bare fists, can you believe that? I’d hate for something like that to happen to you.”

“As I said before, Stark, we’re even. The truce still stands.”

“You tried to assassinate my right hand man, Killian. That’s barely on the same level as me taking out your soldier to get revenge. You violated the truce. Are you trying to start a war with me? Because that will be messy for both of us, and we both know that. I know neither of us wants that.”

Peter just watched from behind Tony, slightly craning his head to be able to see between Tony and Rhodey’s shoulders. He felt that same rush of nervousness and excitement he had felt when joining Tony on his visit to Hammer Industries. That adrenaline was starting to feel addicting. Peter thought his father was being so cool right now - so confident, even though he was staring down  _ Aldritch Killian _ . Peter wanted to be like that next time he stared Flash down. He wanted to command respect like that. He wanted to  _ radiate power _ like that.

“Stark, who’s that little girl behind you?”

Killian’s words knocked Peter out of his thoughts like a punch to the stomach. He felt his entire body go cold, all the color leaving his face.

In front of him, Tony set his jaw and refrained from getting angry. “That’s actually my  _ son _ , Killian. But don’t change the subject at hand-”

“Your  _ son _ , you say? I didn’t know you had a  _ son _ , Stark.”

“You’ve never bothered to step foot in my territory to find out. Smart move, I’d say. You’d be shot on sight if you stepped into my neighborhood.”

“Such bold words coming from a man not smart enough to realize his own son is actually a girl.”

Natasha stepped forward, practically snarling, “You watch what you fucking say-”

“Nat,” Tony held up his hand, and Natasha reluctantly stepped back. But Tony’s calm voice was now underlined with a simmering anger when he spoke again. “Let him make his schoolyard insults. We won’t stoop to his level.”

As hurt Peter was by Killian’s words, it was nice to be reassured that he had the Avengers supporting him.

He kept watching, and found that Killian was staring right at him, past Tony’s shoulder. A chill when down his spine. The excitement and nervousness inside him now just felt like plain nervousness.

“My point still stands, Killian,” Tony continued. “You violated our truce. Now, was that a one time thing, or is it going to snowball into something I need to actually spend my energy on?”

Killian kept his eyes locked on Peter. He hesitated for a moment, then spoke, voice laced heavily with smugness and fake sweetness. “You know what, Stark? I think it was just a one time thing. You killed my soldier, and I learned my lesson. Don’t mess with the big, bad Iron Man.”

Tony couldn’t help himself from letting out an annoyed laugh. “Oh, sure. Okay. I know you’re up to something, you fucking  _ strunz’ _ . But I’ll let you pretend like you’re an innocent little lamb right now. I have my eye on you.”

“As you should, Stark,” Killian finally broke his gaze away from Peter. “As you should.” He then snapped his fingers and looked around at his associates. “Come on. Let’s go.” They began to walk out of the empty lot.

Tony held up his hand again to the Avengers. “Not yet,” he said quietly. “We’re not leaving yet. I don’t wanna turn our backs to them until we see they’ve all left.”

Once Killian and his syndicate was completely gone, Tony let out a sigh. He rubbed the headache out of his temples. “Well, the bastard’s gonna start a war. Great. Just what I need. I got Vanko breathing down my neck to our East, and now I got Killian coming at me from the North. Rhodey,” he turned to his right hand man, “what the fuck are we gonna do?”

“You’re gonna calm down is what you’re gonna do,” Rhodey said.

“I am calm!” Tony snapped, sounding high-strung and the very opposite of calm.

“It’s almost midnight, Tones,” Rhoday said, gripping Tony’s shoulder at arm’s length. “You’re gonna go home, get some sleep, and talk with Pepper about this tomorrow - not tonight, tomorrow.  _ After _ you sleep. Okay?”

Tony took a deep breath again. “Right, okay. Pepper. Yeah. She’s the smartest out of all of us. She’ll know what to do.”

Rhodey chuckled. “That’s right. Now let’s get back to the cars.”

“Right. The cars. Yeah, let’s go.”

The other Avengers started to walk towards where they had entered the lot, but Tony looked around for Peter, who was still behind him. Once he saw his son, he sighed again. He put his hand in the space between Peter’s shoulder and his neck, pulling him closer to him as they walked together towards the exit - where the chain link fence around the lot was cut. “You okay, kiddo?”

“Y-Yeah,” Peter tried to hide the slight shake in his voice. “I’m good.”

“I’m sorry he said those awful things about you.”

“Yeah, well,” Peter shrugged, trying to brush it off, “I mean, it’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“That doesn’t excuse anything. He still shouldn’t have said them.”

Peter shrugged again, not wanting to really talk about it. Usually talking about something that made him dysphoric just made him feel even worse, because then he was focusing on it. He just wanted to be a boy. He didn’t want anyone to question that.

Tony then smiled - his warm smile - and pulled Peter closer to him again as they walked. “You know you’re my son, right? And I mean it. You’re my boy.”

That actually managed to make Peter smile, too. Those words would always cheer him up. “Thanks, Dad.”

“It’s nothing, kiddo. And I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Y-Yeah. I’m glad you’re safe, too.”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, for a moment there I thought I’d have to pull this guy out.” He reached into his blazer jacket, under his arm. When his hand came back out, it held a Stark brand pistol.

Peter’s eyes widened at it, then looked up at Tony. “I-I thought you guys agreed to not bring weapons!”

“And I told you how much of a lying snake he is, didn’t I? I can guarantee you -  _ guarantee _ \- that he was carrying a piece, too.” Tony turned the gun over his hand, making sure Peter got a good look at it. “Listen, son. He’s my enemy, which means I can’t trust a single word that comes out of his mouth. When you’re in my line of work, you  _ always _ gotta carry one of these on you. That’s just how it is when you live this life.”

Peter stared at the gun again. If he was being honest with himself, he was afraid of it. Even after interning for Tony all these months, he’d never seen a gun up close like this before. It was scary. That thing was  _ loaded _ . That thing could  _ kill _ people - it  _ had _ killed people, probably.

A shiver went down Peter’s spine.

“You understand what I mean when I say how my life is dangerous now?” Tony continued to make his point. “It’s not cool like in the movies. It’s not all kicking ass and taking names. It’s constantly watching your back everyday of your life.  _ Hai capito _ ?”

Peter’s mouth felt a little dry. “Y-Yeah. Yeah,  _ ho capito _ . I understand.”

Tony put the gun away just as they were entering the car. He closed the car door behind his as he sat down next to Peter. “Are you still just as excited to take over the Family Business?” He asked, hoping Peter’s answer had changed.

Peter wasn’t so sure anymore, because yes, that had been very scary. But Peter thought about how powerful Tony looked - standing there, staring down his enemy. Peter thought about how Tony kept his back straight, his facial expression under control, keeping his composure even as Killian threatened him and insulted him. Peter couldn’t even talk back to Flash that day at school without almost crying. And here Tony was, sounding completely calm and level-headed even when he was talking to a man who was trying to start a war with him.

Peter wanted to be that strong.

He shrugged. “I dunno. I’ll have to think about it more.”

Tony could accept that. At least Peter didn’t sound as hyper-enthusiastic about becoming an actual mafia boss as he did before. “You’ll have plenty of time to think about it. Don’t worry.” Then he leaned back in his seat and looked forward into the rear view window. “Hap, get us outta here.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I don't know when I'll update next, but I'll try?? soon?? Classes are about to start for me so who knows, but I really like writing this story so I'll try to update soon. Thank you to you all who read this and leave kudos and write comments!! They always make my day!!


	5. Changing Rooms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has a very bad day at school, but Tony knows just what to do to help his son feel better about himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW it’s been over a month since I updated this! I’m sorry! It’s hard for me to find time to write now that classes have started up again. But I managed to find time to write this! I hope you all like it!
> 
>  **!!!Chapter Warnings: HEAVY BULLYING, MISGENDERING, AND TRANSPHOBIA!!** Please stay safe as you read! <3
> 
> (Thank you to my good friends Shardonay and Hayden for beta reading!! Love you guys <3)

When Peter went back to school the next day, people kept looking at him and whispering to each other.

Now, that didn’t mean everyone knew he was trans and talking about that fact behind his back, Peter tried to reassure himself. Yesterday, he had said he was Tony Stark’s son. The other students could be whispering about that.

Of course, there was the possibility that they were whispering about _both_ of those things, but Peter tried not to think about that. He walked to his next class - physics. Good, that meant he got to see Ned.

He sat at his desk, noticing the glances the other kids threw at him. He took a deep breath and just tried to focus on waiting for Ned to show up.

Luckily, Ned entered the room shortly after. He looked very excited. “Hey Peter!”

“Hey Ned,” Peter waved back.

Ned walked over and sat down at the desk next to Peter’s. “You know, we didn’t get to talk about it much yesterday, but I wanted to tell you I think it’s really cool that Tony Stark’s your dad.”

Peter smiled. “I mean, thanks, I guess. I’m glad you believe me, at least. Unlike Flash.”

Ned waved his hand. “Flash is so fucking annoying. Don’t even think about him.”

 _Easier said than done,_ Peter thought. “I’ll try.”

Ned’s eyes still shined with fascination. “So, what’s it like?”

“What’s what like?”

“Having Tony Stark be your dad, bro! What’s it like? Is it, you know,” Ned lowered his voice just a bit, “is it like The Godfather? Is he all like, ‘I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse’ and all that?”

Peter laughed. His brain unconsciously threw images of yesterday’s meeting with Killian into his mind’s eye. “I-I don’t think I’m supposed to talk about anything like that, Ned. Especially not, like, in a public place.”

“Right, right, yeah, of course,” Ned nodded very quickly, the spark in his eyes not dulling at all. “I perfectly understand. I watched The Sopranos - you have the _omertà_ and all that.” Ned nodded again, very sure of himself.

Peter just stared back. “Um, yeah, right. Exactly. Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, sure. Wassup?”

Peter lowered his voice. “I feel like everyone’s been talking about me behind my back,” he explained. “Do you know if Flash told everyone that I’m trans? Is that what they’re talking about?”

Ned’s ecstatic face turned much more somber. “Um, I mean, _I_ haven’t talked to any of those people. But, um, in the hallway, I did hear some of them… talking about that. So, I think he might’ve told some people, yeah.”

Peter’s face fell. “Okay. I just wanted to know.”

“I’m sorry, dude.”

“Nah, nah, it’s okay. Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem, man.”

Soon after that, the teacher walked in, and class began.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

Peter’s dysphoria made him very self-conscious for the rest of the day.

Peter had managed to hear what some of the other kids were whispering about, and - as Ned had said - most of them were gossiping about how Peter was transgender, as well as stating their various opinions about that fact - most of which made Peter want to transfer to another school.

As it turned out, apparently Flash had also told a bunch of people that Peter had been _lying_ about being Tony Stark’s son, so that spread around the school like wildfire as well.

Peter heard some kids in his English class talking to each other about how _the_ Tony Stark would, quote, “ _never_ take in some kid, let alone some transgender weirdo.”

Peter cringed at the sentence. He honestly wasn’t used to kids being mean to him. He’d been away from all that for so long, he’d forgotten what it was like. That was the nice thing about not going to school for seven months and having a family that actually supports you. Why did he ever have to go back to school?

Things got even worse at gym class - a class that Peter didn’t share with Ned. Apparently, Flash had the same gym period as Peter, but had class in the school’s Gym A, instead of where Peter had it in Gym B.

However, that meant they both still changed in the boy’s locker room before gym at the same time.

“Hey, Penis!”

Peter, who was in the middle of unlocking his combination lock, suddenly felt something crash against his back, causing him to stumble forward into the hard metal of his locker. He turned around, and saw Flash’s bookbag on the ground, and Flash standing right behind it, surrounded by some of his friends. Flash must’ve thrown his bag at him.

Peter wanted to jump out the window. “What do you want, Flash?”

“What I _want_ is for _girls_ to stay outta the boy’s locker room!” Flash snickered and pushed Peter, making him hit his head again.

While recovering from the hit, Peter took a deep breath. He stared Flash in the eyes like he was Tony looking at Aldrich Killian. He wouldn’t lose his composure this time. He would be strong and powerful, just like his father. “I _am_ a boy, Flash. Now leave me alone.”

Instead of looking at all intimidated, Flash gave Peter a condescending look. “Oh, sure. Okay,” his voice dripped with sarcasm, “we’ll just leave then. Right guys?”

Flash’s friends all laughed and shook their heads. One of them said, “no fucking way, man.”

Flash laughed with them. “You’re so stupid, Penis. I’m glad your parents realized that and kicked you out when they did. It would suck to have such a dumbass for a kid.”

Peter clenched his fists. “Shut up, Flash! I said leave me alone!” His voice cracked. _Come on, keep it together,_ he told himself. He looked back at his lock and started putting in the combination again, trying to just ignore them and move on with getting ready for gym.

But then he felt a hand grip his shoulder and turn him back around, slamming him against the metal. “Don’t turn your fucking back to me!” Flash was all in his face. “You know, maybe I shouldn’t call you Penis. That makes it sound like you actually have one! I should just keep calling you your _real_ name, to remind your that’s you’re a fucking girl!”

“Let _go_ of me!” Peter willed the tears pooling in his eyes to not fall down his face, but they did anyway.

“Aw, look. Penny’s gonna cry like a little _girl!_ ”

“ _Shut up!_ ”

“You freak!” Flash pushed Peter again - this time not against the lockers, but to the side, sending him tripping over the little locker room bench. Peter barely managed to get his arms down to stop himself from face planting as he fell.

Flash then kicked him, “Stay on the ground!” His friends each took a turn kicking Peter, too.

Finally, they walked away, laughing to themselves.

“If I see you in the boy’s locker room again, Penny,” Flash looked back and said to Peter, “Then we’ll just have to teach you a lesson a second time.”

Flash and his friends left the aisle of lockers, their mocking laughs getting quieter as they became farther away. The other boys around Peter just looked at him, then looked at each other, then returned to getting changed for gym.

Peter sniveled on the ground, holding his stomach. Tears ran down his face that didn’t seem to ever stop.

So much for being strong and powerful.

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

When the black Audi pulled up in front of Midtown that afternoon and Peter hopped inside, Tony wasn’t inside.

“Hey kid,” Happy greeting him. He was the only one in the car.

“Hey Happy,” Peter sat in the front passenger seat, not looking Happy in the eyes. “Where’s Dad?”

“Boss is having an important meeting with the Syndicate higher-ups,” Happy explained as he started driving. “He should be done soon after we arrive at headquarters, though.”

Peter just nodded.

Happy glanced over at him. “How was school?”

Peter shrugged. “Fine.”

Happy narrowed his eyes. “Okay, kid. You don’t have to tell me, but you should tell your father when he inevitably asks you the same thing. He has a very strict ‘don’t lie to your Family’ policy.”

“I-I’m not lying.”

Happy chuckled. “If you wanna take over the Syndicate when you’re older, Tony’s gonna have to teach you how to be a better liar. So you can lie to other people, though. Not to your family.”

Peter crossed his arms. He wasn’t in the mood right now.

Happy’s expression softened. “Hey, whatever it is, Tony’s not gonna be mad at you, okay? He loves you.”

Peter looked up at him. “Um… okay. Thanks.”

“No problem, little boss.”

Peter managed to smile at the nickname.

After a short drive, Happy parked the car in front of the Stark Industries Research and Development Labs building. They entered and went to the top floor, where the building was no longer R&D labs, and instead offices for the Stark Syndicate. Peter sat down on the couch in the lounge room.

“I have to talk to some of the others about some stuff,” Happy said to Peter. “Tony will be out soon.”

“Okay, Happy. Thanks,” Peter took out his phone and started scrolling through social media as he waited.

He waited for a while. The lounge room was so quiet that he could hear the muffled conversation that his father and the others were having in his office. He couldn’t make out many of the words, but he could tell the conversation got pretty heated at some points.

After 15 minutes of Peter sitting there, trying to distract himself from what happened that day with memes, the door to Tony’s office finally opened. Out walked Rhodey and Tony’s capos - Nat, Steve, and Thor. They all waved their hellos to Peter as they passed by him. Peter managed to smile for all of them, hoping it didn’t look too strained.

Finally, the last ones to leave were Pepper and Tony. They were walking very slowly and were still discussing something. Peter pretended to be very interested in his phone, totally not listening to the conversation at all.

“I’m still gonna double security, Pep,” Tony was saying. 

“Tony, we don’t have the soldiers to spare for that,” Pepper stated back.

“Well, then maybe not double it. Just at least increase it. And it only has to be on our 20th avenue spots, from like 65th to 75th street.”

“That’s still a lot of ground to cover.”

“We can ask Gamora and Nebula to borrow some of their guys if we really need to. They’re living pretty peacefully right now, aren’t they? They can spare.”

“While the Guardians are our allies, I don’t know if they’d be willing to send soldiers over.”

“We probably won’t need them anyway, Pep. We have the people for this. And even if- Oh hey, kiddo!”

Peter looked up. “Hi Dad. Hey Mom.”

“Hi Peter,” Pepper waved at him. Then she turned to Tony again. “I’ll go send the documents.”

“Thank you, hun. You’re the best,” Tony gave her a kiss on the cheek.

She smiled and shook her head, then left the room, her heels clacking against the floor.

Tony strided over to Peter and sat beside him on the couch, reaching out to ruffle his son’s hair as he did. “How was school today, squirt?”

“Um,” Peter thought about what Happy had said in the car. No lying to Family. “I mean, it could’ve been better.”

Tony’s lopsided smile turned into something more serious. “Something happen?”

Peter’s mind played scenes from the locker room that day. He didn't want to tell Tony that he got beat up. That’d be so embarrassing. He was the son of a mob boss and he let himself get picked on like that. He couldn’t admit to Tony that was weak like that. He’d be too ashamed. But he still didn’t want to lie.

So… maybe he just didn’t have to tell the _entire_ truth.

“People at school found out I’m trans,” Peter mumbled.

“And… is that causing problems?” Tony asked.

“I mean, if people treated trans people the same way they treated cis people, I wouldn’t mind if people knew I was trans. But since they know I’m trans, they treat me… differently.”

“Different how?”

 _They beat me up_ , Peter didn’t say out loud. Instead, he answered, “They all whisper behind my back, and they call me names. A-And they just… They don’t treat me like a normal human person. They don’t treat me like just another boy. They treat me like I’m some freak, even when I tell them I’m a boy!” Peter refused to let himself cry again. He took a deep breath. “They just… They don’t take me seriously.”

The look in Tony’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Pete.”

“It’s like… I feel like I’m always on the defensive, you know?” Peter started really venting now. “My whole life, I’ve been defending who I am to _everyone_ . Everyone has always questioned me about something as simple as my gender identity! I’ve always had to defend that… that I’m _me_ ! Can you imagine how exhausting that is? Everyone would always tell me who I am or who I should be. Everyday, people would call me the wrong name, the wrong pronouns, and my old parents and foster parents would dress me up in the wrong clothes. And I would try to correct them all and tell them who I am, but they wouldn’t listen. No one would listen! It- It made me feel like I was a crazy person! It was like everyone in the world was trying to gaslight me into believing I was someone who I actually wasn’t! I’m tired of it! I just… I just wanna be like _you_ , y’know?”

Tony set his jaw. Peter didn’t notice and kept venting.

“Everyone takes _you_ seriously! You’re strong and powerful and have control over this whole neighborhood! Of _course_ they’re gonna treat you with respect. But me? I’ve barely gotten the chance in my life to control _my own identity_!” Peter put his head in his hands. “I just wanna be strong, too. Then people would actually treat me with respect.”

“You _are_ strong, Peter,” Tony put his arm around his son. “You’ve been through so much and you’re still here. That takes strength.”

“I-I know, but, I mean, I really don’t feel that way,” Peter admitted. He slumped his shoulders. “I don’t feel strong. I don’t feel like I have any power or control over my own life at all. And so when people bother me at school, instead of being able to just stay cool and confident, it’s just so easy to get upset and lose my temper or start crying.”

“Have the words that these kids said behind your back made you cry, Pete?”

Peter mentally cursed. He didn’t mean to say that. He didn’t want to seem like he was weak. Tony would probably be disappointed in him. But he didn’t want to lie. “…Maybe. A little.”

Peter expected some kind of scolding, but instead, he just got a hand running through his hair. “I’m sorry, kiddo,” Tony said in a soft voice.

Peter felt the tension in his spine relax. “I just… wanna feel powerful and in control of my own life. But I don’t know how to do that.”

Tony’s mouth curled back into a smile. “But I do.”

“Huh?”

“Yep,” Tony nodded, a determined look in his eyes. He stood up from the couch. “I know just what to do. Follow me.”

“W-Where are me going?”

“We’re going to visit my tailor,” Tony walked out the door and into the hallway.

Peter rushed after him. “Your tailor? What does that have to do with anything?”

“You’ll see,” Tony said, continuing to walk through the hall. They passed a room that Happy was inside of. “Hap, come with us. We’re going to visit Maurizio.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

In the car, Tony explained to Peter more of his plan.

“I’ve bought you nice shirts and blazers and pants before,” Tony said, “And some nice shoes, too. But I haven’t ever gotten you a full, tailor-made suit, have I?”

“No…”

“Well that changes today.”

“How is this gonna help me?”

“Do you like wearing those blazers and shoes that I’ve bought you?”

“Y-Yeah! I love them a lot. I think they’re really cool.”

“Well, there you go. Listen kiddo, what you need is self-confidence. It’s very hard to stop a whole ton of people from insulting you and talking about you behind your back. However, it’s much easier to learn to let these insults not hurt you. And to do that, you need self-confidence.”

Peter hung his head. “Yeah. I… I do need some of that.”

“The more self-confidence you have, the easier it is to let name-calling and whispers behind your back completely unaffect you. And the more they don’t affect you, the more people will eventually stop, seeing that they can’t get a rise out of you anymore. And half of self-confidence is just dressing in clothes you like so you feel good about yourself.”

“So you think a full suit will help me feel better?”

“I _know_ it will, Pete. Trust me. Every nerdy teenage boy like yourself feels like this when they're your age. You’re probably feeling it a bit more than some others, but you’re not alone. Hell, _I_ used to feel this way. That’s how I know this is gonna work.”

Peter thought that he probably shouldn’t like being called a ‘nerdy’ teenage boy, but it actually made him feel a lot better. The fact that cis boys - that _Tony_ \- experienced confidence problems like his own made his dysphoria decrease significantly.

“Of course,” Tony continued, “if you wanted to dress in any other fashion style, you could. But if you like the clothes I’ve already bought you, then you’ll love this.”

Peter looked down at his shoes - the shiny mens oxfords that always gave him a small boost of gender-affirming joy. “I mean, I don’t think I’ll wear a _full, three-piece suit_ to school, but I’d still like to have one. For special occasions and stuff.”

 _I usually end up hating what my body looks like, no matter what clothes it’s in,_ Peter thought to himself, but didn’t dare to say out loud.

After driving for a few more minutes, the car eventually pulled up in front of Tony’s tailor. Peter and Tony got out and entered the shop, while Happy waited in the car.

The inside of the shop radiated with expensive energy. Dozens of unhemmed suits were hung on racks against the walls. There were also some large mirrors in ornately-decorated frames, as well as a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Peter looked around in awe.

When Tony had opened the tailor’s door, it caused a little bell to ring. This alerted a man standing at a counter to the side of the room. The man was older than Tony, with dark, slicked-back hair and a fancy suit of his own. The man also had a tailor’s tape measure draped across his shoulders When the man saw Tony, his face broke out into a wide grin. “Ah! Mr. Stark! An unexpected surprise.”

“Hello Maurizio,” Tony flashed a smile back at him, then put his arm around Peter. “I’d like to introduce you to my son, Peter. I’m here to buy him his first three-piece suit.”

“I did not know you had a son, sir,” Maurizio replied. “How come he hasn’t been coming here since he was a little boy? Have you found an alternative tailor?”

“No, no, nothing like that. Peter’s just a new addition to the family,” Tony vaguely explained, like he had with Mr. Costanzo at the ring store. Tony then turned to Peter before any more questions were asked. “Peter, this is Maurizio. He’s been making suits for the Stark Family for years, from since my father was in charge.”

“N-Nice to meet you,” Peter said shyly.

“The pleasure’s all mine, Young Stark,” Maurizio said. “So, your father says you’re here for your first three-piece?”

“Um, yep.”

“Follow me. I’ll show you what we have. Then we’ll give you a fitting,” Maurizio walked over to one of the racks of unhemmed suits. Peter followed, and Tony followed behind them.

After Peter picked out a nice dark gray suit, he went to a changing room, where he put on the shirt, pants, and waistcoat, keeping the blazer folded on his arm. He looked at himself in the mirror. He looked ridiculous. The clothes were too baggy on his small frame, which made him feel more dysphoric. Why couldn’t he just have a body like Steve Rogers’? Why was he stuck with _this_ one? Wasn’t this suit supposed to make him feel _better_?

Flash’s words from the locker room invaded his brain again, but he shook them away. Peter sighed. _It’s just cuz it hasn’t been tailor-fit to you yet,_ he told himself. He put on a brave face and left the changing room.

Back in the main room, Peter stood in front of a tri-fold mirror beside his father and Maurizio. Maurizio walked around him, pinching at the fabric of the waistcoat so it fit Peter better, then pinning it in place.

“You’re a small man,” Maurizio said as he pinned the hems of the pants.

Peter’s heart dropped. _Thanks, rub it in why don’t you._ But before he could think anything else, Maurizio continued to speak.

“Just like your father over here. I always have to take off so much length in the legs.”

That actually made Peter smile. Tony was kinda short, wasn’t he? Peter laughed to himself.

“Hey, you think that’s funny?” Tony chuckled and walked closer to Peter’s side

“No,” Peter answered, still laughing.

“You wipe that smirk off your face, you wise guy,” Tony grinned and playfully ruffled Peter’s hair.

After that, Peter put on the blazer, letting Maurizio pin it to fit him too. Soon, the tailor was all finished, and Peter was free to change back into the clothes he came in with.

When he exited the changing room, he heard his father talking to Maurizio.

“Can this be ready by tomorrow?” Tony asked the tailor.

“I have other orders, but as usual, I can always make yours my first priority, Mr. Stark,” Maurizio smiled.

“Good man,” Tony handed some cash to Maurizio.

The tailor happily accepted it. “Thank you, sir.”

Tony nodded at Maurizio, then turned to Peter. “C’mon _bambino_. We’ll check back here after you get outta school tomorrow.”

“Okay. Thank you Mr. Maurizio!” Peter said as he followed Tony out the door.

Maurizio waved to him as they left, “You’re welcome, Young Stark.”

⎊ ⎊ ⎊

The next day at school, Peter luckily didn’t have gym class. But that didn’t stop him from hearing the whispers about him in the hall. That didn’t stop Flash from pushing him around and deadnaming him during lunch. That didn’t stop some random kids he didn’t even know from tripping him in the hallway, causing the books in his hands to fly everywhere.

Needless to say, he was happy when school finally ended.

He hopped into the black Audi waiting for him, and Tony was there in the back seat. “You ready to get your suit, kiddo?”

“I’ve been looking forward to it all day,” Peter grinned.

“Good to hear it. Hap, drive.”

The car sped off towards Maurizio’s.

Once inside the tailor shop, Maurizio greeted the two Starks, then handed the suit to Peter.

He went to go change.

When he stepped out of the changing room - wearing the full, three-piece, dark gray suit - his smile was wide across his face. He thought he looked great in the little mirror in the changing room, but he wanted to see himself in the tri-fold mirror - to view the suit from all angles in its full glory.

He stepped in front of the tri-fold mirror and looked at himself. He saw how the blazer gripped his shoulders and made them look broader. The waistcoat molded his torso into more of a V-shape. His shiny shoes made his feet look a little bigger. And all together, the outfit just looked so mature. He looked intelligent - suave, even.

He looked like his dad.

Through the mirror, he saw Tony walk up behind him. “How do you feel, Peter?”

Peter felt joy exploding in his chest. “I feel… powerful.”

“Yeah?”

“Y-Yeah,” Peter grinned widely. “I feel like… I feel like myself.”

That made Tony smile, too. “You know who I see in that mirror?”

“Who?”

Tony placed his hand on it’s familiar spot between Peter’s shoulder and his neck, pulling him a bit closer. “I see a young man who I am proud to call my son.”

Peter sniffed back tears of joy. “Thank you, Dad. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, _bambino_ ,” Tony said, then pressed a kiss to the side of Peter’s head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanna wear suits all the time so that part of the chapter is super self indulgent lol. I hope you all liked this chapter! Don’t worry, Flash will get his ass kicked by Tony and the Avengers very soon lol.
> 
> I don’t know when I’ll be able to update this, since it’s hard to find time to write between classes and homework and all, but I’ll try to update as soon as I can! I love all your kudos and nice comments, so feel free to leave them! Thank you all for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

> [Here's my Tumblr](https://starprincepunk.tumblr.com) and [my art Tumblr](https://starprince-art.tumblr.com) if you're interested. And if you wanna read my other Irondad and Spiderson fics while you wait for this one to update, they’re all [right here!](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1421887)


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